What is going on in my brain? What is the chemical mechanism? Why cant I just tell my brain to stop craving the substance? Why is the addiction removing all of my inhibitions?
This is hell.
In: Biology
Everyone here is spot on in their statements about the positive reinforcement effect of dopamine, but I haven’t seen anyone touch on the punishment aspect of withdrawal from substances— taking the substance will typically feel less good over time as your body develops tolerance, but *not* taking a substance that your body has become habituated to feels really, really terrible (and is sometimes so terrible that it’s physically dangerous.) I creeped on OP’s post history & it looks like their substance of choice is THC, which has slightly fewer physiological “hooks” for withdrawal than a substance like alcohol or opiates, but there’s still some specific withdrawal symptoms: irritability, anxiety, insomnia, decreased appetite, restlessness, depression, etc. Experiencing those symptoms will cause your brain to scream, “you know how to make this stop!”, triggering increased cravings and keeping you stuck in a vicious cycle. It can especially be hard to stop when you have co-occurring mental health challenges like anxiety or depression, because withdrawal can exacerbate those symptoms.
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